Name: The Plaza Hotel Address: 768 Fifth Avenue, NY NY Architect:Henry J Hardenbergh Style: French Renaissance Revival
Description: The legendary Plaza Hotel of New York City, located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Central Park South in Midtown Manhattan, officially opened its doors on October 1, 1907. Designed by architect Henry Hardenbergh in a lavish French Renaissance style, the 19 story structure replaced an earlier hotel on the same site and was built with no expense spared costing approximately $12 million at the time and furnished with 1,650 crystal chandeliers and a historic order of gold encrusted china from L Straus & Sons. From its early days, the Plaza was as much a residence as a hotel, hosting social, political, and cultural elites including Vanderbilt family members, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Frank Lloyd Wright, the Beatles, and presidents and kings.
Over the decades, The Plaza has become an enduring symbol of Gilded Age opulence and cinematic glamour. It has appeared in numerous films, including Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, Home Alone 2, The Great Gatsby, and Plaza Suite… and inspired the beloved Eloise series of children’s books. The hotel was designated a New York City Landmark in 1969 and a National Historic Landmark in 1986, with interior spaces such as the Palm Court, Oak Room, Grand Ballroom, and Terrace Room granted landmark status in 2005. After closing in 2005 for a $450 million restoration and partial conversion into luxury condominiums, The Plaza reopened in stages by 2008, preserving its historic elegance while reintroducing contemporary luxury amenities and its legendary services.
Name: Kaufmann Desert House Client: Edgar J. Kaufmann Address: 470 West Vista Chino, Palm Springs, California Architect:Richard Neutra Style:International Style
Description: Built in 1946 in Palm Springs California, the Kaufmann Desert House stands as a hallmark of the International Style in postwar American residential architecture. Commissioned by Pittsburgh department store magnate Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr, who had previously commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, it was designed by Austrian‑American modernist Richard Neutra as a desert retreat embodying notions of openness, light, and climate responsiveness. Constructed with steel framing, Utah buff stone, and full-height glass walls, the house features long extending rooflines, movable vertical louvers to shield from heat and sandstorms, and a central living/dining pavilion from which four wings radiate: public, master, service, and guest areas.
Beyond its architectural innovation, the Kaufmann Desert House became iconic through photographs by Julius Shulman and Slim Aarons, including the legendary “Poolside Gossip,” which captured its effortless mid-century glamour. After changing ownership several times, it underwent a meticulous restoration in the early 1990s led by Marmol Radziner & Associates to faithfully recreate Neutra’s original vision, sourcing matching stone, replicating custom metal fascia, and restoring original finishes and landscape relationships. Today, it is celebrated as one of Neutra’s most enduring masterpieces and a defining example of mid‑century modernism tailored to desert living.
Description: Designed by the architect Morris Lapidus in the Miami Modern style the Fontainebleau is one of the grand hotels of Miami Beach. Just above 44th street on Collins Avenue, the hotel is beach front and on the west side overlooks the Indian Creek waterway. The original building was completed and the hotel opened in 1954.
Description: After the completion of the Fontainebleau Mufson, wanting to build his own hotel purchased the Warner Estate property just north of the Fontainebleau on Miami Beach. Mufson hired Lapidus to design his new hotel to be named the Eden Roc, after the Hotel Du Cap Eden Roc in Antibes France, a well known destination of the Kennedy family, glamour by association. The Eden Roc Miami was completed in 1956, designed in the Miami Modern style popular of the time and that Lapidus was known for. Rather than having the sweeping curves that were increasingly in vogue, the Eden Roc had a more traditional “tower” crowned by a large fin that bares the hotels name.
Name: The Park Central Client: That Guy Address: 640 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach FL Architect:Henry Hohauser Style:Art Deco
Description: In the heart of Miami Beach’s South Beach along Ocean Drive. The Park Central designed by Henry Hohauser and built in 1937 in the Art Deco style. Recently renovated and combined with three other adjacent properties that now make up the Gabriel South Beach Hotel. Beautifully executed historic preservation.
Name: The El Dorado Client: Louis Klosk Address: 300 Central Park West, New York, NY Architect:Emery Roth Style:Art Deco
Description: The El Dorado in New York City was built between 1929 and 1931 by the developer Louis Klosk, the Architect of Record was Margon And Holder, although the consulting (design) architect was Emery Roth. The El Dorado is a beautiful example of Art Deco design especially in the case of large apartment buildings. It is a New York City designated landmark, on the National Register of Historic Places and a contributing structure to the Central Park West Historic District. The base of the building has a number of small setbacks, and two towers rise from about mid building 17th story. Each of the towers above the 30th story have finials for a stepped profile.
Name: The Beresford Address: 211 Central Park West, New York, NY Architect:Emery Roth Style: Renaissance Revival
Description: The Beresford on New York City’s upper west side was built in 1929 designed by the architect Emery Roth in the Renaissance Revival style. The building is 22 stories tall and is topped by three octagonal towers in corners one each on the south sides and the northeast side. The footprint is in a U, creating a courtyard in the middle. The façade is primarily blocks of rusticated limestone and above the first three stories beige brick. There is terra cotta ornamentation on the south, north and east façades, balustrades, pilasters, pediments, cartouches and obelisks.
Originally a rental building, the Bereford became a coop in 1962. It is a New York City designated landmark, a contributing property to the Central Park Historic District and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
